Iraq police brigade suspended over suspicions of sectarian violence

The World Today - Thursday, 5 October , 2006 12:14:00

Reporter: Barney Porter

ELEANOR HALL: Despite Mr Richardson's endorsement of the way US intelligence agencies are prosecuting the war on terrorism, there's no let-up in the violence in the key theatres of that war, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The US military has admitted that bomb attacks in Baghdad have hit an all-time high. Now one of the capital's frontline police units has been pulled from the streets, over suspicions it has been involved in sectarian death squads.

And in Afghanistan, NATO has taken command of all foreign troops in the country at a time when a resurgent Taliban is intensifying its offensive against the central government and its foreign military backers.

This report from Barney Porter.

BARNEY PORTER: NATO's International Security Assistance Force already commands forces in the north, west and south of Afghanistan, as well as in the capital, Kabul.

Later today it officially takes command of around 12,000 US troops in the east.

The US troop transfer had been expected later in the year, but alliance officials now say battles with resurgent Taliban guerrillas in the south show an urgent need to pool British, Dutch and Canadian troops under NATO with the US forces.

Daan Everts is NATO's Senior Civilian Representative.

DAAN EVERTS: NATO is here to support, to support as long as the Afghan people think it is desirable. We are not here to decide the Afghanistan future - that is the Government and the Afghan people themselves, through democratic processes.

BARNEY PORTER: But when the Afghan Government decides it no longer needs NATO's help remains an open-ended question.

The situation in Iraq is also showing no signs of a quick resolution.

US Major-General William Caldwell has admitted Iraq has seen more car bombs in the past week than in any other week this year.

In the latest violence, a series of bomb blasts in a shopping district in a mainly Christian neighbourhood of Baghdad has killed at least 20 people, and wounded around 90 others.

The people on the streets have had enough.

(sound of man yelling)

IRAQI MAN (translated): Either America was behind these blasts, or the Government or the political parties. All of those were behind such violent acts. Three years have gone by and nothing has been done to help the people.

BARNEY PORTER: Something is being done now, but it's a tacit acknowledgement of that man's claim.

Iraq has demobilised an entire police brigade suspected of links to sectarian death squads, and moved it to a US military base for retraining.

The announcement follows two recent mass abductions by death squads in Baghdad.

General Caldwell says problems with the unit were discovered after a routine review of the Iraqi forces.

WILLIAM CALDWELL: Coalition forces went through and altogether 27 battalions that were done during the month of September. It was a basic three-day program of evaluation.

But there is also enough other credible information that probably had we never conducted the inspection that it would've probably surfaced anyway too. I mean information was coming in from various sources that led everybody to look very closely at that one particular brigade.

BARNEY PORTER: Former US State Department official, Matthew Sherman, spent two years in Iraq as a senior adviser to the country's Interior Ministry and now works as a political and security adviser for a private firm.

He believes the unit's suspension is highly significant.

MATTHEW SHERMAN: It's the first time an entire brigade has been taken offline. Not only to deal with some retraining of some of the individuals, but also have a number of the senior officials within that brigade be suspended and where an investigation will be carried out to see what types of sectarian violence they may have caused in Baghdad under their command.

BARNEY PORTER: However, Mr Sherman says a three-week retraining course is unlikely to succeed in getting any rogue elements linked to the sectarian violence to switch their loyalties to the US-backed central government.

MATTHEW SHERMAN: The trick is to be able to completely remove those individuals who are engaged in that activity and then to try to build upon policing principles and rule of law principles to those who aren't engaged in it.

In a sense, you're just trying to weed out all of the bad apples and the measures that were taken are a first step in that process.

BARNEY PORTER: Mr Sherman says the Iraqi authorities recognise the threat posed by the ongoing sectarian violence, but it's not yet clear if the problem is so deeply entrenched, it will take a whole generation to resolve.

MATTHEW SHERMAN: I just came back from there last week, and I think the Prime Minister and I think the Minister recognise that some drastic measures need to be taken, in order to deal with the organised crime that's gripping the country and the militia issues, because many times they overlap and I think we'll increasingly see more measures like this in order to deal with the militia problem.

BARNEY PORTER: The uncertainty about Iraq and Afghanistan's future hasn't stopped Republicans in Congress setting aside almost $30-million for a post-war victory party, once the US military tames the raging insurgencies and violence.

The measure will also empower President George W. Bush to designate "a day of celebration", to commemorate US military success in both theatres.

Opposition Democrats say the Bush administration should focus more on winning the war, and less on planning the party.